Wheat (Triticum spp.) is one of the most cultivated cereal crops by Man, being an important source of protein and energy in the human diet. It contains a protein complex, the gluten, which is primarily responsible for the rheological behavior of wheat flours. However, it is the gluten that triggers celiac disease, an autoimmune disease which results in enteropathy that occurs after gluten exposure in genetically predisposed individuals. The disease causes villous atrophy of the small intestine mucosa, causing impaired absorption of nutrients. Its prevalence is approximately 1% in most Western societies, being sub-diagnosed in Portugal and to date, there is no pharmacological treatment, and the only effective way is the adherence to a gluten-free diet.
Despite some gluten-free products have been developed that mimic the traditional bakery and pastries products, they present serious problems at nutritional, organoleptic and technological level. In this context, given the incomplete response of many patients to the gluten-free diet, as well as the difficulty of long-term adhesion and the social burden, the development of new therapies, non-dietary, becomes extremely important.
The main objective of the present proposal is to create a firm basis for the development of a therapy that allows celiac patients to eat wheat-based food products. To achieve this objective, with the advantage of using the acquired knowledge in this field by our research group concerning the identification and characterization of proteins related with celiac disease, the development of target-specific nanoparticles, as well as the development of gluten detoxification technologies, one of them waiting for patent registry, we propose to perform a multidisciplinary study and with application, which encompass the genetic diversity of wheat and biotechnology. Initially, we will study the biodiversity of wheat using different wheat species, modern and old varieties, from different countries in order to protect important germplasm from genetic erosion and seeing the potential of application. Nevertheless, it should be noted that it is unlikely that the genetic diversity of wheat, alone, can ensure the development of hypoallergenic products for celiac patients, as we recently reported. In this sense, we believe that the combination of wheat varieties with low toxicity for celiac patients and the application of a detoxification technology will be the most effective and better strategy. Thus, we will develop gluten-specific nanoparticles, biocompatible, with the main function of sequestering the toxic proteins/peptides, which will allow through the simultaneous application of the 2 strategies that celiac patients can securely ingest wheat-based food products without any health problems and to contribute to a better social inclusion.